Spain drops extradition of Turkish-German writer to Turkey

MADRID – Spain's government says that a Turkish-born writer, who has German citizenship, won't be extradited to Turkey for his alleged involvement with an outlawed group.

German authorities and rights groups protested after Dogan Akhanly was arrested in August while vacationing in southern Spain on a Turkish warrant.

He was later released but ordered to remain in Madrid while the extradition request was considered.

Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said Friday that the government halted the process on the same grounds for releasing Turkish-Swedish writer Hamza Yalcin last month — because under Spanish laws refugees can't be extradited.

Akhanly has written about the mass killings of Armenians in Turkey in 1915. The killings are a sensitive subject in Turkey, which rejects the widespread view that they constituted genocide.